Wishing to escape what she sees as the constant, everlasting rain of Oregon, Rachel Porche, freshman, seeks to relocate under the world famous California sun. It is there that she hopes to pursue her dreams of becoming a Navy engineer and follow in the footsteps of her father, a former Navy Seal. Her ambition for engineering sparked from her passion for math, a subject that has always captivated her.

“I like the confusion,” Porche said. “There are so many ways to find the same answer,” Porche said.

Other reasons also fuel her hunger for the Golden State; a large portion of her family currently lives there. She likes to visit her family members in Anaheim because their house is conveniently close to Disneyland, the place that holds many of Porche’s most treasured memories. With family, fun and the future all waiting for her in the land of opportunities, all she has to do now is think about the present.

As a high school rookie, Porche has taken to looking at life with a new perspective. One of the many changes she noticed in her transition from middle school to high school was the teachers. In middle school, she perceived them as being more forgiving. High school caught her off guard when she learned that it was all about deadlines. She recalls having long grace periods after her absences, allowing for more time to complete her assignments. Now she’s playing a whole new game, and is having to meet the new standards of high school.

Porche was excited nonetheless to meet the teachers. “It gives me the ability to tell my little sister (Dani Porche, 7th grader) who she should look out for and who she should be excited for when it’s her time to be a high schooler,” Porche said. Her sister will soon have her turn to be in the big-leagues, and Porche has no doubt that she will adapt as quickly as she did herself.

With her passion for math, plans for the future, and her ability to draw inspiration from her family, Porche is looking forward to the next three years of high school, which she is sure will be “the best years of her life, before she start the journey into adulthood.”